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Monday, April 16, 2012

Taxes Prompt More Americans to Renounce Citizenship

I would expect that the expatriate movement will be become hot as folks with assets and wealth flee the U.S. and it's punitive tax laws. The thieving U.S. government also imposes an exit tax for those who renounce their citizenship.

The United States is one of the only countries to tax its citizens on income earned while they're living abroad. And just as Americans stateside must file tax returns each April — this year, the deadline is Tuesday — an estimated 6.3 million U.S. citizens living abroad brace for what they describe as an even tougher process of reporting their income and foreign accounts to the IRS. For them, the deadline is June....For those wishing to legally escape the filing requirements, the only way is to formally renounce their U.S. citizenship. Last year, IRS records show that at least 1,788 people did, and that's likely an underestimate. The IRS publishes in the Federal Register the names of those who give up their citizenship, and some who renounced say they haven't seen their name on the list yet....There's also an "exit tax" for the very rich who choose to leave.